In this episode of “Journalism 101 with Tripping Raul,” host Tripping Raul reflects on a harrowing case from her days as a beat reporter. The case involves the disappearance and murder of 17-year-old Sandra, whose case Raul covered right before being fired from a daily newspaper in Northeast New Mexico.

Raul starts the episode by recalling the initial call from Sandra’s mother, Darlene, who was desperate because the local sheriff’s department dismissed her concerns, suggesting Sandra had likely run away. Raul contacted the sheriff, who maintained the stance that Sandra was a runaway despite the mother’s insistence otherwise.

For fear of bad publicity, the sheriff reluctantly started to investigate the disappearance.

The narrative takes a grim turn when Raul mentions that Sandra’s body was eventually discovered by a shepherd in a secluded area, not by law enforcement. The sheriff admitted that Sandra had gone to a restaurant to apply for a job, where she was last seen accepting a ride home from an unknown individual. This ride ended tragically when Sandra was kidnapped, attempted to be raped, and then strangled.

After the body was discovered, the sheriff posited that the murderer was a transient who had killed as he passed through town after taking a low-qualified job. He likely then left town to kill again, the sheriff said.

Raul discusses the lack of resources in the mid-1990s to link crimes nationally, which affected the investigation. She expresses her initial hope that revisiting her research would reveal a solved cold case. However, she finds out that the murderer was indeed captured after she had left the town, and contrary to the sheriff’s belief, he was not a transient but a local man named Timothy Allen. He had a violent past and had admitted to giving Sandra a ride on the day she disappeared.

Raul ends the episode emphasizing the critical importance of swift action in missing persons cases, citing statistics from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. She reflects on the crucial role the media played in bringing attention to Sandra’s case, which she believes helped to recover the body sooner and with dignity.

The episode concludes with Raul hinting at possibly discussing her firing in more depth in the next episode, leaving the listeners with a teaser for future content.

Resources:

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• Teen’s Murderer Gets Death Sentence, Albuquerque Journal, Dec. 21, 1995
  
• Life in Prison Ordered for Last Two Death-Row Inmates in New Mexico, Reuters, June 28, 2019
  

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